In testimony this spring before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, Jack Shandley, Swift's senior vice president of HR, asked the government for a legislative solution to the issue of employment verification.

"Simply put," he testified, "a company cannot legally and practically do more than we have done to ensure a legal workforce under the current tools and regulations available from the government.

"Despite these facts, the government raided six Swift production facilities on the morning of December 12, 2006, and detained 1,282 employees. This event cost the company more then $30 million and disrupted communities that Swift has worked hard to enrich."